B & W or Tannoy (1 Viewer)

[Nathan **L]

First of all I would like to thank you for letting me become a member of this forum.
Here is my question. I am looking at getting some new fronts for my theater I am looking at the B&W Nautilus 804's or The Tannoy Definition 700. I like to listen to my stuff lout. I have a RT 1090 to power these speakers. I would like to hear opinions and thoughts.
Thank you for your assistance.

 

[RayKk]

I am using Tannoy and I find them great, I have 2 Mx4s for the front, the Mxcm for center, 2 Mx3s for the back and a PS 1010 subwoofer(this tannoy sub is made in Canada), alot of people are saying Tannoys are hard to find which may be the case in north america, I just stumbled on a dealer in Toronto that had them, I was in the sound room of the store listening to many speakers with my eyes closed and chose Tannoy plus the reviews are outstanding for most Tannoys

 

[Nathan **L]

I was first thinking of getting the 804’s as my two fronts and use my mirage OM 8’s as my rear speakers but some one brought up the fact of having tonal differences. Do you think there would be a significant difference in the home theater use?

 

[Shane Martin]

Nathan,
I think it depends on if you are using 5.1 music or if it is straight HT. HT is alot less demanding than music as far as where you can tell the differences at. If you use a movie where it pans alot(Like surround EX titles) then you may be able to really tell the difference with unmatched fronts and rears. Haunting DTS has alot of forward to backward to across the rears panning and is quite good for this. Dragonheart is good too.

Now onto your post, I've heard Tannoys and B&W's. Tannoys to me are very boring speakers. They are very very very laid back. I like laid back but not that much. Given that you are using a very laid back amp, it might not be very musical for you.

B&W's OTOH are very forward(to me) and the treble tends to slap you in the face. They have never been fatiguing or bright to me and I'm very touchy towards this.

Both speakers have excellent midrange but the difference is in the treble. In this particular case, The B&W's are superior especially at the price point you are at. The Rotel/B&W match is a long time proven thing. I'd go as far as to say that the match is the most comman for that brand of speakers.